The Baby Room
by Sokorra Lewis
Summary: While exploring unreached areas of Atlantis, Kavenagh stumbles upon a room that has consequences for several others. Various pairings. AU to Season 3.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I don't own Stargate although I wish I did. It would be nice to claim one owned John Sheppard, but alas I do not. This story is in need of a beta-reader so if anyone is willing, let me know. All comments welcome.

* * *

Chapter One

Theodora Spinnet was not pleased as she walked though the hallways of Atlantis. When she had agreed to head up a new linguistics department in the City she hadn't thought this is what her work basically would be. That the scientists would ignore her translations and do whatever they pleased.

Granted it wasn't far to group all the scientists into one group like that. Dr. Zelenka tended to head her translations and Dr. McKay at least looked at them before going on to do something. It was mainly Drs. Kavenagh and Timov who ignored her. Hence her travel to Dr. Weir's office to supersede them on this particular case.

They had found a room in the lower right quadrant of the city that had been sealed with a message stamped onto the seal. She had been able to translate only a few as it wasn't as clear as she would have liked but pictures had been taken and she had put it though the computer program she had designed to bring out the letters. She wasn't ready to say 'go ahead and explore'. The words she had picked up were 'child' 'nine' and 'stopped'. Kavanagh and Timov had decided it must be a room for children that had been sealed off for an unknown reason.

Dora wasn't satisfied with that explanation. After all, there had to be a reason it was sealed. None of the other rooms had been sealed. So she was going to talk to Elizabeth about postponing the exploration of the room till she could get a more complete translation of the seal.

She arrived at the office and knocked on the door. Elizabeth looked up and motioned for her to enter the room.

"Can I help you, Dr. Spinnet?" She asked pushing aside the report she had been reading.

"I need to talk to you about a project I have been working on with Kavanagh and Timov," she began. "They wish to explore a room which was sealed and I do not believe it is wise to investigate the room any further until I can make a more complete translation of the text placed on the seal." Elizabeth frowned.

"They gave me the impression that you had already made a translation."

"Only a few words were clear enough to translate on site. I'm running the photographs of the seal though my computer program right now to see if I can a better translation. I could only get a few words but not enough to tell me why the room had been sealed off."

"Well, I had given them the ok on the exploration of the room with the information I was given. I can see what I can do to postpone it. They may have already started it." Elizabeth and Dora walked out of the room and towards the area the room was located in. When they arrived they found the door of the room was open. Inside the room stood Rodney and Ronan Dex and the other scientists mulled about the outside preparing equipment to Dr. Kavenagh's instructions.

The room appeared to be bare, with no furniture or windows. The walls were all a white color that seemed to glow including the floor. It was rectangular and there was nothing in the room besides the two men after a look around from the doorway.

Dora didn't walk in, choosing to watch from outside the room, but Elizabeth and Teyla (who had just arrived) walked straight into the room to talk to Rodney and Ronan about it since they couldn't get any information out of Kavanagh.

The four of them were talking when Dora saw one of the scientists had found a control panel near where the door was. He opened it up and found there to be two buttons. She walked over and started to read the inscriptions below each button.

The red button stated it was a start button for whatever procedure the room was supposed to have. The Blue button appeared to be the start button for another procedure. Obviously only someone who knew what the room's purpose was could properly use the buttons.

She relayed this to the scientist in charge, and walked back to the doorway of the room, where the four were standing.

"Doesn't appear to have anything to do with children as far as I can tell." Rodney noted as she joined them. "That is what Kavanagh told me this was. Some ancient version of a child's playroom. Atlantis Day Care I suppose."

"Well, I haven't gotten a complete translation yet." Clearly Kavanagh, in his eagerness to show he wasn't a complete failure (which no one really thought) had decided to take what she had said and blow it out of the water. She was about to comment on that when the formally mentioned scientist cried out.

"No! Don't push that!" Dora turned around to face Kavanagh as the man rushed by her too late to stop the man who had decided to fiddle with the buttons. The walls and floors of the room began to glow a reddish hue and when it stopped, the four who had been actually in the room were now on the floor, unconscious.

Dora walked into the room, despite the protests of the others and knelt near the four. All of them had pulses and simply seemed to have passed out. She could hear Kavanagh calling for medical personal and then talking to the scientist who had figured he could play. She concentrated on checking each of the people who were unconscious for other signs of what may have gone wrong that she could recognize and didn't see John Sheppard came in.

"What exactly happened here?" She looked up at him, surprised to see him.

"What happened here is someone didn't listen to me, and another person didn't listen to him." She could see that Elizabeth, whom she was kneeling next to appeared to be breathing ok. She tried not to sound annoyed when she spoke but the Colonel had always managed to bring that side of her out. It hadn't helped that the moment she saw him she was attracted. That particular factoid annoyed her the most that she had an attraction for the guy who ran the place. Half the staff did and frankly she rather not join the masses in their adulation of Lt. Colonel John Sheppard. "These four were exploring the room. After the initial opening it appeared to be safe but one of the lower ranking scientist decided to play buttons and now is answering to the Rath of Kav," she continued.

At that moment, Carson Beckett and his crew burst into the scene and swooped down on the injured. They quickly assessed the damage and put the four on stretchers. They were carried off and Dora went to follow him but the Colonel held her back.

"Can you give me something more then 'Dr. Spinnet abridged'," he asked with a tone that made her realize he was as annoyed with her as she was with him at the moment.

"What exactly do you want, Colonel? A synopsis of my day? I told you what happened."

"You do told me the basic facts but I know there is more to this story. I wasn't aware there was going to be exploration in this part of the city." He leaned against the wall, his arms crossed across his chest. "Begin at the start. I'm sure Carson would just kick us out anyway if we tried to follow him into the infirmary." She had to agree with him there. Carson was getting stricter about visiting hours due to a case where people had interfered by being there.

"Well, we found this room early this morning while mapping out this part of the city. I was assigned to translate anything we came across that needed to be translated," she started knowing full well that he already knew this. However he had asked for the complete and unabridged story and so she was going to give it to him. She leaned against the wall beside him, watching as the various scientists began sending sensors into the room to investigate what had happened. "Dr. Kavanagh and Dr. Timov decided that even though I could only make out a few words the room seemed to be harmless and some exploration could be done. They conveniently forgot to mention I hadn't made a complete translation when the got the permission to remove the seal on the door."

She began to tap the wall with her hands, as she normally did when not busy. "I went to discuss this with Elizabeth when they went in with Rodney and Mr. Dex. When we arrived, Teyla Emmagen and Elizabeth walked into the room as well. We found a button. Some assistant for Kavanagh decided to ignore our instructions to not touch them and pushed the button. And then hell broke lose and you arrived." He seemed satisfied with that and walked off.

She sighed and closed her eyes, rubbing her forehead. When she woke up she had thought it was going to be a good day.

* * *

Carson couldn't explain it. By all accounts the four of them were in perfect health and sleeping. The women were showing slight variations but for the most part appeared to be the same as their latest physical.

They had the four patients lying on the beds away from the main part of the infirmary so no one could bother them. Dr. Frohike was running all tests on them and was working with Dr. Biro to complete them as soon as they could.

What had happened in that room?

"Are they alright?" Carson jumped slightly at the sound of John's voice but quickly recovered and turned to face him.

"As far as I can tell right now, they seem healthy. I just can't figure out why they were unconscious like that." He shook his head. "There are a few more tests to be done and Dr. Spinnet needs to get to me with her translation of this seal. It may show us what exactly is wrong.

John nodded. "She said she hadn't finished when they had began to open the room."

"Aye. That is what Dr. Kavanagh told me when I asked him about what happened when we arrived. But she's still working on it. Can I ask a question…What is it with you two." Carson had noticed the slight animosity between the two the last six months. Not enough to really concern him about their working together but as a friend he had wondered about it.

"I'm not exactly sure. She just sets me on edge somehow. She's made a point of not liking me from the moment we met." John shook his head. "She seems to be friends with everyone else, but has something against me and of course it doesn't help me like her any better."

Carson agreed with the friendly part. Theodora was a nice girl. She even got Kavanagh to sometimes be amiable with others. Granted he had once seen her mad (and at John too) and you would never guess the girl had a nasty temper once she got riled up from her normal attitude. She wasn't a big thing, only 5'5'' and looked really young at times when she had her hair down. She was interesting.

She wasn't a classic beauty, but she was very nice to look at, Carson mused. She had shoulder length dark brown hair that had a red tint to it that if he was poetic he may have said looked like chocolate covered cherries. Her eyes were hazel, and depending on her mood could shift into either green or brown. She wore glasses, although half the time they ended up doing a part-time job as a hair band. She bit her nails, something Carson had found out when she had managed to cut herself on a sharp piece of ancient equipment and needed stitches. She liked to wear band t-shirts instead of the general uniform shirts and had a rose tattoo on her lower back she got during spring break in college. Or at least that is what she told him. She didn't really seem the type to have 'spring break' the way she talked about it.

He smiled at John and walked to check on his patients. Theodora and John's relationship was going to be fun to watch.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I'm going to just state before hand I do not own Star Wars or The Pittsburgh Steelers. Mr. Rooney, George Lucas and Ben R. have not given me permission to use their intellectual property and persons in this fic. Nor did any of the Stargate People.

* * *

Chapter Two:

Dora sighed as she ran her hand though her hair. The computer program had brought out four more words so far but it really didn't make sense. It appeared the room was some sort of medical facility, with a connection to children. She looked at the screen as the computer slowly went over the figures on the seal, each time bringing just a bit more out.

She stood up and walked over to the computer set up for the database of the Ancients and entered in the information she had uncovered so far. It would take a long time for it to search and even if the information was there, it might not be found due to it not being translated. The translation was taking a long time since there was so much information available.

She watched the computer for a little while before standing and walking over to the department's coffee machine.

"Find anything?" She nearly poured coffee grinds on herself in surprise when she heard his voice but managed to straighten the scoop before she did. She didn't turn around to answer him, deciding to finish making her coffee.

"Depends on your definition."

"Anything that helps."

"Well," she said as she turned to face him, having turned the machine on, "I have found out it is a medical facility…. Well as much as it can be called a facility, as it is only a room. It involves children. I haven't found out what exactly or why it affected four adults but I'm working on it."

John bit down the words he wanted to say, knowing full well that they weren't true and she would no doubt go postal on him if he did say it. He still could remember the last time she had gotten mad at him. He could still smell the lemons.

"So anything I can do to help?" She shrugged and pushed away from the counter.

"Feel free to help computer watch with me. I'm trying to think of a way of making the program faster," she said as he sat down in her chair. "Radek is going to have the computer tech they have come up and help me design a new program that would be able to figure it out faster. Although this is fast considering I wouldn't have been able to translate most of it at all without it."

"You designed it?"

"Yep. It was my second major computer programming. First were languages. You?" She figured she might as well create small talk while they waited.

"Applied Mathematics."

"Ah. Never my strong point, math. Of course my sister always hated me when I said that because it is even less of a strong point for her." The one computer beeped and she went to look at it over his shoulder. Another phrase had been figured out, but she rolled her eyes at the lack of information it gave. "Ok, that means 'warning'. Gee…What a great help." She stood back up and paced around the room in frustration.

"Well, it obviously wasn't sealed because they didn't want to Wraith to touch it," John added, trying to help.

"True. It is written in a way to discourage any entrance. If it had been just the Wraith, there would have been no sign at all."

She walked over to the database computer. It still had a lot to search for but it had found one reference so far of a 'child-related medical facility' in the journal of a councilman named Moe. She blinked if only for a second at the name and proceeded to open the file.

What she read made her pale with realization. The entry wasn't that detailed but enough that she got the jest of what may have just been opened. John walked up behind her and began to read as well. They shared a look and started out the door.

The machine rang out that the coffee was ready.

* * *

Nathan Kavanagh was overseeing the 'marking off' of the mysterious room. He felt oddly responsible for what had happened and wanted to make sure nothing else happened. No more exploration until the seal was translated.

Regardless of what many people on base thought, he did not _hate_ Dr. Weir or any of the members of AR-1. For the first year after the argument over the trapped jumper he had been angry. He had tried his best to find as many faults in her leadership as he could to report back to Command if they ever got the chance, which he did but he was pretty sure they never listened to his message after the first five minutes.

After the siege he had finally realized that perhaps the things at fault if she had been a leader on earth were what would make her a good leader here. After all, they hadn't had Wraith coming to diplomatic conventions back home.

"Sir, the room has been marked off." He nodded that he had heard the Lieutenant's words and motioned for him and the two others to leave. He stood looking at the room for a few minutes before leaving himself.

He could wait now and hope his blunder didn't cause too many problems and the ones it had caused would easily be fixed.

* * *

Carson was only just looking over the test results that Dr Frohike had handed him when John and Dora rushed into the room. Neither looked as if the information they planned to give him was going to be very pleasing. When they both began to give it at once, he merely held up his finger and they stopped, realizing they were talking at the same time. They shared a look and John began to explain.

"We found a reference to the room in the journal of a council member. According to what he wrote the room was a controversy and was in danger of being closed. It was a room that was researching gestation basically. It would use some kind of invitro and they would see how they could manipulate the pregnancy."

It didn't take Carson long to figure out what that could mean for the four lying in his infirmary.

"So they may be pregnant?" He had never thought to run that particular test. And given that it was the Ancients…

"Yes," Dora continued, "Although we can't know for sure if all of them are, or just the women or even just one. Just that the possibility is there. It could be the cause of their unconsciousness." He nodded and motioned a nurse over.

"Ben, I need you to collect some more blood samples from our four patients. I have another test I need to run." He decided to do it himself, rather then explain to someone else what may have happened. The nurse nodded and went off to do as he was told and Carson turned back to the other two. "I need you to find any medical information in those archives and see if there is any way of reversing it or perhaps fixing it." They nodded and hurried back out, eager to help their friends.

Carson sighed and walked over to the four beds that were occupied in that section. He checked the various machines tracking the vitals of each and then collected the blood samples from the nurse.

Rodney awoke to find himself in the infirmary. Not that it was a rare occurrence (for he had gotten hurt several times) but it was weird that he felt perfectly fine. In fact, he felt better then he had for awhile.

He looked to his left and saw Ronon Dex sleeping, dressed in the infirmary's red outfits. He blinked. It was unusual indeed to see Dex in the infirmary as a patient. The man seemed impervious to any physical injury. Turning his head slowly to the right he saw an empty bed. There didn't appear to be a nurse in the area, but he could see some light on the floor from Carson's office. He sat up and looked around him, finding himself in one of the off rooms of the infirmary, one with six beds in case of an overflow or for those with long-term stays. Across from Dex and himself lay Elizabeth and Teyla, looking peaceful as they slept.

He frowned. The last thing he could remember was that he was standing in the very empty room Kavanagh had been raving about. It seemed useless, another room with its meaning lost. He had been irritated; Dex amused when Teyla and Elizabeth had entered the scene.

"What's going on?" she had asked. Dex had simply shrugged. He preferred a no-vocal approach to most people. The only ones who seemed to get more then a few words out of him on a consistent basis were Sheppard and Teyla.

"Kavanagh decided to investigate this room and called me out to see. Guess he wanted to rub it in my face if he found something. He didn't."

"I see."

"Did he bring you here too?"

"No, Dr. Spinnet did."

"Dora? I wasn't aware she was on this project."

"She is the linguist assigned to work with Kavanagh. She had a different opinion on exploring this room but I suppose her fears were misled. There is obviously nothing here to harm anyone."

"Doesn't appear to have anything to do with children as far as I can tell." He had stated, seeing Dora Spinnet walk towards them. "That is what Kavanagh told me this was. Some kinds of children's play room. Atlantis Day Care I suppose."

"Well, I haven't gotten a complete translation yet." She paused and looked to say something else when Kavenagh yelled.

"No! Don't push that!" He had looked over at Kavanagh but suddenly the world had tipped and he had lost consciousness.

Or at least that is what he assumed. Not that there were many options besides that given his current location but he really couldn't say for sure what had happened after that moment of…well, fuzziness.

Carson walked out of his office at that moment, concentrating on the electronic notepad in his hands and began to walk towards where Rodney sat. He put the pad down on a table beside Elizabeth's bed and began to check her over.

"What's wrong with her?" Rodney asked, suddenly realizing that they were all in the infirmary, which met something bad had happened, regardless of his once-in-a-life time perfect health. Carson jumped slightly at his voice, but didn't stop his check.

"Well, almost the same as you, nothing, but I'll get into that later. How do you feel?"

"Fine. Is she going to be ok?"

"I can't be sure. All four of you passed out in the room Kavanagh found earlier and so far you're the only one to wake up." Carson walked over to Teyla. "Any headaches or any other feeling?"

"Um…no, actually. Feel fine. So the room just knocked us out." This didn't make sense, as there was nothing in the room. Rodney's brain started to work on the various possibilities as Carson finished Teyla's check-up and walked over to him and began to do his usual check.

"Rodney..." He began, not exactly sure about how to go about this. Rodney and Elizabeth were his friends but he wasn't quite comfortable about asking even them about their social lives like this. "Do you know if Teyla or Elizabeth were involved with anyone in the last month or so?" Rodney gave him a look he was used to, slightly offended and said 'where did you come up with that'.

"Yes. Of course I would know as I watch them though my magical crystal ball in the lab."

"I'm not saying you do, but as one of the people closest to them I figured you be a good start since I can't ask directly."

"Well, I don't know. It doesn't exactly come up in day-to-day conversation." Carson sighed. Perhaps he should have waited. His assumption that Rodney and Elizabeth had been leaning towards a romantic relationship in the last year was looking to be wrong. Or at least it hadn't happened yet. He moved to Dex without a word. Finally Rodney's curiosity got the best of him.

"Why do you ask? Do you think someone they are involved with the booby-trapped room?"

"No, Rodney. I'm just checking all my bases here."

"And…"

"There is a great chance that the room impregnated the two women. Apparently, it left you and Ronon alone."

"What!" Carson glared at him. There were other people sleeping in the infirmary and he really didn't need them awoken by Rodney's loud mouth.

"I'll explain more later." He walked away a bit and came back with a glass of water and an Athosian fruit that seemed to hold vitamins that helped in the healing process. "Drink and eat first. You have been out for a little over a day. Dr. Spinnet and Colonel Sheppard are working on figuring out exactly why you passed out. We have done some blood tests and you are actually not showing any signs of being unwell. Except for the fainting."

"I do not faint." He gulped the water, his mind going over the words Carson had just said.

"Rodney; lets not get into that again."

* * *

There was such a thing as hell and he was stuck in it. John Sheppard had been stuck in the Linguistic department's main office (which for some reason had NO windows. He would have to talk to Elizabeth about moving it to a more open space upstairs) for several hours now, watching as Dora Spinnet paced the room while the computers beeped around them. They had been scouring the archives for any mention at all what exactly was this process was that the room had used and why had it caused the reaction in the four who now slept in the infirmary.

In their attempts to pass the time with conversation they had managed to have not one but three arguments. The last one had been slightly amicable and seemed almost a normal conversation one would have with a friend.

"I seriously think Episode Three was a weak connection. I mean, why does Leia remember her mother and not Luke? I'm pretty sure he got a better look at her? And how did Obi-wan come up with the name Ben?

"I think you over think it."

"You sound like my brother."

"Hmm. A voice of reason?"

"No, just someone who didn't watch enough to notice discrepancies. Like Owen's link to Anakin and Obi-wan. Originally he was Obi-wan's brother but all of a sudden he was Anakin's stepbrother."

"Perhaps Obi-wan was his brother. Weren't they taken from birth?"

"Hmm. Could explain some of his hate of Jedi. Not that he needed more. You know what I would have liked to see in Episode III?"

"Less cheesy love scenes?"

"Ha ha. Very funny. I would have liked to have seen Mara Jade. She's my favorite character by far. Her and Han."

"Who's Mara Jade?" Dora gasped in mock disbelief.

"You don't know Mara Jade? She's only the best assassin of the Star Wars universe and also happens to be Mrs. Luke Skywalker."

"I always figured he would end up with Mon Mothma," he teased.

"That's…. That's just disturbing. And wrong. Besides, she supposed to end up with Jenson."

"Jenson?"

"One of Luke's friends from the rogue squadron. I never read those books, just fan fiction and found him in there."

"Oh god," John moaned at the mention of that particular genre of reading material.

"What? Nothing wrong with a little fan fiction."

"Do you know I found some Outer Limits fan fiction in Mckay's room once? It made me fear the genre."

"You should read some of mine. I write Star Wars. I had one that was practically a novel. Sabe-wan."

"Do I want to know what Sabe-wan means?"

"Sabe and Obi-wan in a romantic relationship. Don't worry. It's not mush. Quite a lot of action in there. But no football, sorry."

"Would have been interesting. 'Use the Force, Anakin. A touchdown, you will have.'"

"I don't think Yoda is a football fan. I think he'd be more into virtual reality. Obi-wan would be a soccer fan."

"You only say that because McGregor is European and they are usually soccer fans. And it's called football too so I can forgive them," he replied with a smile. "I think Palpatine would enjoy football. Just lighting strike the football every time the other team had it and it would keep getting dropped."

"Palpatine would never be a fair player would he?"

"He's a Sith. I think it's against the 'Sith Guidelines to Ruing the Universe'".

"Yes, of course. No. 345. What was I thinking," she joked. "You know, Ben Rothlesburger would make an interesting Jedi I think."

"Steeler fan I take it."

"Yep. Born and raised. Can't take it out of me."

"Too bad. Patriots fan here."

"Tsk. You do not know what you miss."

After that they had been silent for several minutes before Dora had stood up and started to pace the room. She was one of those people, he had noticed, that could never truly stand still. When she was sitting, either her foot was going or one of her hands, tapping against the floor or another surface. She was a hand talker too, and one had to make sure they didn't stand too close when she was really talking or otherwise they would get hit.

The computer beeped to break both out of their silent thoughts and he spun around to face the computer.


	3. Chapter 3

An: blink Yes, this story is still alive, although its' almost comatose. This is a short chapter, with little plot movement but some of it is necessary. Sorry about the long wait between updates. Hopefully I won't be so long for the next chapter.

Thanks to the reviewers of the last two chapters. Also, if you aren't aware, chapter 2 has been revised. I don't think I changed anything important plot wise, but you may want to read it just in case.

* * *

Chapter Three: 

Dora was not sure she was going to be much more help in the current crisis. Her strong point was translating and she didn't understand half of what she was translating. There was a reason she never went to any more in depth medical training then emergency field medicine. She hated discussing organs and using big words that gave you bad images just from hearing them.

She was currently translating one of the larger pieces of information they had managed to squeeze out of the database and it was 95 medical information she couldn't understand pass general anatomy. Carson would be happy though. It seemed to give a general idea as to what was happening.

Elizabeth had awoken a few hours before while Dora had been in the infirmary discussing with Carson any suggestions for keyword searches in the database. Carson explained what was going on and Elizabeth seemed to be taking it rather well. Rodney had been giving a sedative after he started his usual "freak-out" as Dora referred to them as.

She was going up to visit with them in a little bit. To rest her eyes, because staring at Ancient for two hours was starting to make it all blur together. This would be so much easier if she knew how it sounded when spoken. She had always been better at the verbal then the written when it came to other languages. English on the other hand was the opposite. It was the one thing that made her jealous of Dr. Jackson. He had actually heard it.

"Dr Spinnet?" Dora looked up to see Dorian Morrison, one of the latest new members of the linguistic department. He was also the only one who hadn't had previous experience at SGC before coming to Atlantis. However, he was adapt at learning languages quickly and had a specialty in pictographs. He had been helpful in a recent AR-3 mission in negotiations with a group of people who had no vocal chords and relied on pictures to express information. She had told him more then once to call her Dora or at least Theodora but he still had the nervous habit of referring to everyone by their titles.

"Yes?"

"I finished with the document you asked me to translate for you. Um...I'm not sure I translated this one word right. It says that the man in charge of this science experiment was trying to find a way of continuing the race even if they had…well, I think it's declined."

Dora smiled reassuringly. Dorian was still new at this and often not sure of himself despite being one of the best. She looked over his translation, and handed it back to him with a reassurance that it was correct and that he should present it to Dr. Weir's stand-in. He looked at her oddly.

"That's you." She frowned.

"Are you sure?" He nodded.

"According to the list they gave me during the orientation my first day here; the order of ascension is Dr. McKay, Dr. Beckett and then you. Given the circumstances…"

"I understand." She took the report from him and stood up herself. She'd check with Carson about the proper hierarchy and if she really was supposed to be in charge, she needed to get to working on that. And think of a plan to shoot the person who came up with the idea of putting her in the line of succession and then forgetting to tell her about it. That is if she survived her time as mission leader.

Elizabeth would kill her if she came back to backlog.

* * *

"Do you have a six of Diamonds?" Elizabeth peered over her cards at Teyla. To pass some time in the infirmary, Elizabeth had taught Teyla to play cards, starting with "Go-Fish" Before Teyla had a chance to respond, Dora walked into the infirmary. Both women turned to her, wondering what news she would bring this time. 

"How is the investigation going, Dora," Teyla asked. The women smiled and walked over.

"Well, nothing new at the moment which can be both good and bad. However, Last night we did find out there is an under floor lab beneath the room and Colonel Sheppard is gathering a team to investigate it today. Rodney and Ronon are going to help as well."

"So that's where they went," Elizabeth commented.

"Yes. By the way, did you know I was in the line of succession?"

"Yes, didn't you?"

"No, apparently I missed that memo." Dora sighed. "I don't know why they would want me in charge."

"It was General O'Neill's suggestion. He said you showed great leadership potential."

"Oh, he did?" She shook her head. "I don't know when I could have shown that." She sighed. "I suppose I better get to work. I've been technically protemp here for over two days and haven't done a single thing yet.

Elizabeth frowned as Dora said goodbye and walked out of the room. The woman was clearly uncomfortable about the arrangement, though neither she nor John had any qualms about her being put there. She was a great leader to her department and had helped Elizabeth with several crisis over the two years she had been apart of the Atlantis mission. She just didn't seem comfortable about handing such things on her own. Although technically she wouldn't. Elizabeth was still of sound mind (most of the time anyway) and despite being stuck in the infirmary she would be able to help Dora with any of the major developments that happened on the base.

Suddenly it really sunk in why she was in the infirmary.

"Elizabeth, are you alright?"

"I…I think so." She was going to be a mother. In about 6-7 days apparently. And she had no idea wither Ronon or Rodney was the father. Hell, for all they know, Teyla and her could have reproduced together. This would be awkward later on which she had to explain to her father that she had a child.

Her father would kill her. Not literally of course, but he be angry. It wouldn't matter if it was a science experiment gone wrong. Not that she could tell him anyway without him having the clearance to know about the Atlantis project. He had set ideas and one of them was that parents should be married before they had children. He had been mad enough as it was when she moved in with Simon. Her mother would understand. Audrey Weir was a little more…relaxed in her ideas.

"Teyla, how do you feel about all this?" The Athosian women pondered the question for awhile before answering.

"To be honest, I'm not sure of what my feelings are on the matter. There is a part of me that screams how unfair this is, but another part thinks that I should be grateful because we have been in worse situations. And in the end we are getting a great gift."

"Yes, I suppose it could be seen that way." Elizabeth was thirty-eight years old. She had given up the idea of children years ago. She never felt she had the time to give them an adequate amount of attention. She supposed now, with her being stationed in one place she would have more time to raise a child but on the other hand it was a much more dangerous situation.

Could she really do this?

* * *

John visited Dora in Elizabeth's office to let her know that the team was ready to explore the lab. When he got there though, he had to stifle a laugh at the sight of Dora trying to sort though the pile of data logs and other things that had gathered during the last two days. Her glasses were half off her face and there were various mission files everywhere. Funny thing about that. Everything was electronic on Atlantis except for the mission files which had to be backed up on paper twice. Once for the archives on Atlantis and once for the SGC. He never could understand the logic in having four copies of each mission. 

"Need some help?" Dora apparently had not noticed him standing in the doorway because she accidentally dropped some papers in surprise. She groaned in frustration and went to pick them up.

"Unless you know some way of magically making this all disappear, no."

"I take it you didn't expect this?"

"No. Tell me you didn't know."

"I knew."

"And you didn't feel the need to make me aware of the fact while you were sitting in my office drinking all my private stash of Hazelnut coffee?" She pouted and he almost laughed again. Dora had been addicted to coffee since she first tried it when she was seventeen. He had no doubt her "special item" had been a stash of gourmet coffee.

"I thought you knew. Besides, it isn't like we have had the easiest going relationship the past few months."

"Try the last couple of years, John," she said with a sad voice. True enough, it had been years since they had been actual friends.

"I have a question."

"I'm not stopping you from asking," she said, continuing to work on various things in the room.

"Why did you ask me what my major was in college? You already knew all that." She sighed and put down the pile of data chips she had been holding.

"I guess I wanted to pretend that we didn't know each other. Start anew. I'm tired of fighting all the time."

"So am I." But he also didn't want to get into this conversation. Too many years to go through. "The team's ready for the lab."

"I've already let Lorne know he's on watch in case you need him. Good Luck." He nodded and left. She watched him go before sighing and returning to the work at hand.

* * *

Author Notes Pt 2: The next chapter shall give you a better understanding of how Dora and John know each other, and why exactly they haven't been getting along very well. Hopefully you are still enjoying this story. Reviews and comments are welcome:) 


	4. Chapter 4

**Author Notes:** _I'm just going to let you know, you can pretty much ignore anything in season 4, and the end of Season 3. I may use late Season 3 elements but there are a couple major plot issues that I ignore to keep this fic going. It's officially AU. Oh, and Ana Sheppard is an original character of mine, not of the show's creation as we don't know anything about John's family except he doesn't send home 'I'm going to die, so here's my goodbye' video messages home._

_This chapter is not beta'd. In fact, this whole story must not have been beta'd because as I was doing some fact checking with how much I talked about Nick Spinnet I noticed how many mistakes there were. I'm on the search for a beta for this, but as it is NANO this month, it may be awhile._

_Reader's Poll: What names should the babies have?_

* * *

Chapter 4 

Rodney, Radek and Ronon were almost finished gearing up when John arrived back in what was being titled 'The Baby Room' by the general population. How the information about what happened had gotten spread around, there was no concrete answer. However, John had the suspicion that the infirmary news chain had been in full force again.

Radek had brought several hand-held scanner devices that should allow them to survey the hidden lab without touching anything that might cause the room to activate again. He had registered a power surge and recorded the electronic signature so the scanners could see any device that held a similar one.

Personally, John would prefer not to touch anything. The scientists disagreed, believing that any technology they found should be examined for use in some way. He supposed they were right, but he had a bad feeling that anything found in this lab wasn't going to be useful to them. Not unless they wanted to repopulate the city.

Ronan went down the stairs first, followed by Radek and Rodney with John filing in last place. The room was dark, so the first job was to find a way to activate a lighting system. The lights from the P90s John and Rodney carried was not very adequate given the size of the lab. Ronon and Radek went to the left while John and Rodney went to the right to see if they could find the light switch. Or whatever the ancients called it.

"So what's between you and Dora?" Rodney asked as he peered at the wall. "It seems you two are actually getting along for once."

"We called a truce, I guess."

"So you're not going to tell me why the two of you fight in the first place?"

"We used to date, back in high school," John said reluctantly and only half-truthfully. Rodney blinked.

"And she's still angry about that? What the hell did you do?"

"Why do you think I did anything?" Rodney just gave him a pointed stare and he sighed. "Yeah, it was me." He paused when they came across a panel on the wall. Rodney looked over it with the scanner and hit a button. Half the lights in the room turned on.

"Are you going to finish?" Apparently the light hadn't exposed anything that grabbed Rodney's eye and make him forget the conversation.

"I broke things off over a stupid fight about my relationship with my family." He decided that even though Rodney was the closest thing he had to a best friend, he wasn't about to tell him that in reality it was their _marriage_ he had called off. They had been high school sweethearts and had married almost before they graduated. His parents had been mad; her parents had just brushed it off. Granted, her parents weren't that interested in Dora's life. Either way, the marriage had lasted barely a year when his relationship with his parents soured and she tried to get them to talk again. He wasn't quite sure how, but they ended up fighting themselves and then he decided on a whim (that every once and awhile he regretted) to divorce her.

"Wait…is your sister named Ana?"

"Yes. How did you know I had a sister?"

"Remember, I was still talking with Jeanne when she started dorming with Dora. That's how I know her from before the Stargate program. I just remembered there was a third girl in the dorm named Ana and that when we met they were discussing why Ana's brother wasn't helping them because Dora was fighting with him. I guess that's you then."

"Chances are." Dora and Annie had been best friends in high school. That was how he met her. He hadn't talked to her since about the same time he stopped talking to his other family members. She hadn't really forgiven him for what happened with Dora.

Radek found the other light panel and the four men began to search the room for answers.

* * *

Once Dora was done organizing Elizabeth's office and finishing off some of the most urgent needs of the expedition on whole, she decided to go spend some time with Elizabeth and Teyla, knowing the girls were probably tired of seeing just the infirmary staff for hours on end not to mention tired of playing card games. She picked up some books from Elizabeth's room and a chessboard from the recreation room and made her way down to the infirmary. 

She found them just finishing their dinner, with the nurses on duty removing the dinnerware as she walked into the room. Both smiled at her, clearly still in good spirits despite the situation.

She had managed to have a moment with Jennifer Keller, Carson's second in command about their conditions earlier. Apparently despite the rapid nature of the pregnancy both the mothers and their children were doing quite well.

Elizabeth was very happy to receive the books. She was getting tired of just sitting around and anything would be more pleasant then watching the doctors walk around the infirmary.

Dora set up the Chess game in between the two. Teyla had expressed interest in the game after hearing John talk about it, so Elizabeth and Dora decided to play a game to show her how it was played. As she sat the pieces on the board, she updated the two women on the on goings of the city.

"I talked to the SGC," she mentioned as she put the last piece on the board. "Landry thinks I'm doing alright for now, but should this require more time then another week or so, or if you should choose to take leave He'll be sending someone to run the base on a more…well permanent temporary basis so I can go back to heading my own department."

"Leave?" Teyla asked, not quite understanding the statement in that context.

"Well, they are options once the children are born," Dora answered. "There is the option of putting the child up for adoption with one of the Athosian families or perhaps one back on earth. After all, these children weren't exactly your decision or even the result of a mistake you made. They were forced upon you. However, if you choose to keep your child you'd be given maternal leave, a few months off to adjust to being a new mother, just like any other women in employment by the SGC. The only additive was that both of you would have to have a rotation as far as off-world goes. They don't want to put you or your families in danger if they don't have to, so you'll have to choose someone to go in your place on the off trips."

"Well, that's something we'd have to consider," Elizabeth said softly. "I hadn't even thought about what happens after the baby is born, at least not in depth. It's kinda been that distant thought. I should have thought about it more."

"Well, considering your both in the middle of this whole adventure, I think you'd be able to get away with a few moments of living in the now," Dora said with a smile. "Are you two feeling ok, by the way?"

"Yes, for the most part," Teyla commented. " Carson believes that due to the quick nature of the gestation period, what would normally go away after a small portion of the pregnancy will be for the duration. Like being sick all the time."

"Ah, morning sickness. I had it all day too. I always found that chamomile tea and gingersnap cookies always helped me." Dora offered.

"I'll take that into account. I'm sure that the Athosians have a similar tea that may work. I shall ask Halling when he visits tomorrow."

Elizabeth was watching Dora silently as she and Teyla talked. The women rarely talked about her marriage to Nicholas Spinnet. Only that the divorce had helped in the decision on whether or not to accept the job at Atlantis. She had only met the man once but he had been totally opposite in personality as Dora, and not in a good way. He had also worked as a linguist for the SGC, in fact from what Elizabeth could find out about it from Teal'c and Daniel that was where the two met. Dora was the type to fall easily apparently, and they were married within months of meeting. However while Dora was sweet natured, usually even-tempered (except when John was involved) and got along with _most_ everyone she worked with, or at least attempted to, Nick was a stereotypical snob. Daniel, who ran the department, had almost decided to send him to Atlantis just to get rid of him, but thought better of it. He hadn't wanted the expedition to suffer both him and Kavanagh. So in the end Dora was asked to accept the position as the head of the Linguistics department. At first she declined, and as such didn't make it on the first year. However Nick's jealousy of the fact that she was more adapt at what she did (at least according to Daniel) and the clashing of their personalities had finally torn the two apart and a mere four years after they got married they were divorced and she was on her way to Atlantis.

She was quite surprised to hear Dora speak of morning sickness as if she had been pregnant once. She knew that Dora had no children; it had been one of the things they had insisted on with the Atlantis mission. No one wanted people to leave families and children behind on earth when they might never come back. She wondered what had happened.

"You were pregnant?" she asked. Dora turned to her, looking surprised. Perhaps she hadn't thought about how that statement would reveal that fact.

"Yes, a long time ago, back in college. I miscarried at five months." Elizabeth was surprised at how matter-of-factly she had said that. But then she saw that look in Dora's eyes and knew it was not because she was used to telling people, in fact the opposite. But she trusted Elizabeth and Teyla with this information about her. That and she needed to let it out. Obviously seeing her and Teyla pregnant had brought back the memories. Dora paused for a second before saying something else. "You know, I had just found out the gender of the baby a few days before I miscarried. I was barely far enough along to tell, and they told me that it could be wrong, but it was a little boy. I remember thinking hoping he'd look just like his dad." She smiled at the end, her eyes a little teary at the memories. It had been one of the most joyful and hardest months of her life.

"I'm sorry," Teyla said softly, squeezing Dora's hand. She wondered what she would do, if she lost the twins inside her. She already felt a connection with them. Tomorrow Carson would do an ultrasound and she'd get her first look at her children. She already knew she'd keep them. She couldn't imagine loosing them now.

* * *

Never, ever push a button if you don't know what it was meant to do. Rodney fully believed this should be the science departments motto after this. In fact, he'd bring it up with Elizabeth whenever they got out of the mess they were in if he could add 'Do you have a tendency to push buttons without a full investigation first?' to the applications for positions in his department. 

Things had been going so well till Ronan of all people had chosen to put pressure on a button that caused it to go inward, putting them in their current conditions.

The button had opened the floor onto a slant and they had fallen through and slid down. They had to be at least three or four floors from where they started in the underground laboratory. If they fell anymore they'd be in the ocean.

Ronon was the only one without a serious injury. He was bleeding quite profusely, but he had assured the others that it looked worse then it was since it was a head wound. He seemed to be current when after a few minutes it stopped though Ronon for the first time ever seemed light headed.

Radek had noticeably broken his arm. Ronon was able to fix it so the bone was no longer sticking at such an angle that everyone could see it protruding form his arm. It would need medical attention, but he did the best he could with the first aid kit Carson had insisted they bring down.

Rodney himself figured he had at least something broken, several cuts that were bleeding much more then he cared to see (granted, that was any bleeding at all, and he wouldn't be so concerned if he hadn't had the time to dwell on them).

The worse injured appeared to be John. When they had finally finished falling, he had been the one on the bottom, so he had received a blow to the head that had made him unconscious. Ronan and Rodney had both fallen on him and Radek a few feet beyond, but at a better angle so only his arm was broken.

Rodney wasn't sure what scared him most at the moment. The fact that John hadn't woken up in the ten minutes it had taken them to set up lights and tend to the wounds they had as much as they good with the tiny kit, or what Elizabeth and Dora were going to do with them when they found out that they had left their radios up in the entrance to the lab.

And thinking about how those two women would be looking at them, when they were all back in the infirmary with proper medical attention kept him occupied enough to make him not dwell on his own injuries.

* * *

**Next chapter:** _Nighttime on Atlantis brings Dora a nightmare, Lorne lots of worries, and John consciousness. _


End file.
